Gaara's Garden
by Sailorjj07
Summary: When Gaara goes missing, Sakura and the others are puzzled at his location. When Sakura finally locates him, she's very surprised at what she finds him DOING. R&R people!


Gaara's Garden

By: Sailorjj07

A/n: This is a cute little one shot about my favorite character and my least favorite character. No really, I hate Sakura, but she and Gaara are so awesome together that there's no way I could ignore them. This is my first swing at the Naruto bat, so hopefully it's not too bad. Anyways, fluffy one-shotness ON!

Disclaimer: I do not own!

"Talking"

_'Thinking'_

**Actions!**

(Me!)

It was her one time to get away. To let her true self shine through. The angry Sakura, the hateful Sakura, the one who wanted to destroy each and every thing that aggravated her or caused her pain.

That included Sasuke. Or Ino-pig, when she was mad at her. Or her parents, when they left her worrying if they would make it home from another mission.

Training was Sakura's moment. The time when she was true to herself. Lately, she had been training more and more often. There were several reasons for this: one being that Sakura was sent to the Valley of the Sand instead of out in the field to help search for Sasuke. Not that that mattered anyway - the fact that Sasuke didn't want to be found eluded most people, Naruto especially, but Sakura knew the truth.

He wasn't coming back. Nor did he want to.

And that angered her more than anything else. Sakura punched the boulder in front of her and grunted from the effort as she unleashed punch after punch on the offending rock. She wasn't using her chakra to destroy it effortlessly; instead, she hit it with her own strength. She gave a smirk of satisfaction as she saw a few cracks appear in the rock face.

"Damn you, Sasuke. This is all your fault." She imagined his face as she punched the rock harder and harder, glaring at it; wishing she had this boldness when she met him face to face. She had told herself over and over that she was angry because she loved him.

But that couldn't be further from the truth. In these moments, Sakura did not lie to herself. While she trained, she admitted to herself that she did not love Sasuke. No, Sakura loved the idea of Sasuke. She loved the idea of a weak, shattered boy, who needed her help more than anyone else in this world. A young man who would love her more than anyone else in this world. Someone that she wouldn't be able to live without.

In Sakura's mind, where the logical, reasonable part of her existed, she knew she did not love Sasuke.

And that made her all the more angry.

"All the time I wasted. All that emotion; those feelings, wasted on a good for nothing, sorry, two-bit bastard! RAAAAARRRRHHH!" As the boulder shattered to pieces, Sakura realized she had accidently used her chakra and destroyed it instantaneously.

"Well, it's nice to know how you really feel for once, Sakura."

Sakura nearly jumped three feet in the air as Temari clapped her hands in amusement. The wind-wielder smiled and surveyed the damage, whistling neatly.

"Yeahhh... make sure my brother doesn't see this, will you? He'll flip."

Sakura's heart skipped a beat involuntarily at the mention of Gaara being angry with her. He was much more...teasing, since he lost the demon in his body and an angry Gaara was probably the hottest thing next to the sun. Sakura tried to calm the race in her pulse and turned her attention to Temari.

"So what brings you out here? Did you need me for something?"

"Well...the thing is...We can't find my brother...Kankuro and I have looked everywhere, but-" Temari broke off, looking down at her hands. Sakura could have sworn Temari looked nervous, but the girl's face was so neutral most of the time Sakura knew she was probably seeing things. "No one knows where he is exactly and we were wondering if you had seen him."

"Seen him? No, I haven't seen him at all today, actually."

"Ooooh crap. The council's gonna kill me!" Temari sighed loudly, obviously irritated at the idea of having to appease a bunch of old people.

"How did you lose a Kazekage exactly?" Sakura asked, giggling at Temari's exasperation.

Temari shot her a glare before shrugging her shoulders slowly, "Well, I don't know. He was at home when we all woke up this morning and he ate breakfast with us too. Today is one of his off days and he just vanished! We've looked almost everywhere for him."

"Well what's left? I can go look where you guys haven't, since I don't really know his particular haunts."

"We've been looking all over the village, but he may not have left the house. Maybe he's still at home?"

"Nah, I checked." Sakura tried not to scream as Kankuro appeared behind them. She glared at the puppet master and threw her hands up in exasperation.

"What is with you people?" Sakura cried, fighting the urge to strangle the guy. Seriously, what was with them and sneaking up on people?

Temari giggled in amusement and Kankuro smirked at Sakura's frustration. Sakura rolled her eyes and started running towards the village, "Well, he couldn't have gone too far, right?"

**With Gaara**

It was his one time to get away. To let his true self shine through. The sorrowful Gaara, the Gaara who allowed himself to feel mournful, the lost Gaara.

Here, in this place created by his mother, Gaara let his frustrations fade away and let himself truly feel. He walked over to the old-fashioned water pump and filled up his clay pot with more of the scared liquid.

His mom had loved making things grow. She made even the most obscure things flourish in their desert wasteland: apples, grapes, peaches, and flowers of all shapes and sizes. His manipulations of the sand around him made his green thumb that much greener; he could force the water out of the sand and make sure that only the plants received the precious life-force.

He knew that the people of his village would be angry beyond belief at his gardening. They'd probably accuse him of wasting a valuable resource, not that it mattered - the Kazekage could do whatever the hell he wanted and if he wanted to garden, then darn it, he'd do it.

Gaara found himself moving almost happily between the plants, their green color a stark contrast to the desert around him. The green was such a vibrant, lovely color... Like Sakura Haruno's eyes.

In this place, Gaara could admit to himself that he was very much attracted to her. He imagined her as a girl his mother would have loved instantly, if she were alive. He could see how well she got along with Temari and Kankuro; he knew that even his own people softened whenever the Leaf ninja was in the room.

And it was definitely hard not to love the girl. She had such a pleasant attitude and a warm smile to match. Sakura was probably the first girl that had been brave enough to touch Gaara - by accident, of course - but the brief contact was enough to make him always aware of her presence.

And when you speak of the Devil...

"I should let you know that I have no idea how I got out here."

Gaara kept his back to Sakura, an amused smile playing across his usually expressionless lips. He watered the bush of bright blue Desert Bluebells and ignored her for the most part. He could see her out of the corner of his eye though, gaping at the oasis around her. Gaara felt a surge of pride; at his and his mother's hands, his desert paradise had flourished: the fruit trees still produced luscious fruit that was very rare for the desert nation, flowers bloomed year around and the small water pump that his mother had built produced enough life support without causing a huge stir.

"I can't believe you have this here. I didn't even know it existed!"

"Only five people know of its existence and two of them are dead." He hadn't meant to make the situation sound as sarcastic or horrible as it did, but his words were used to being harsh. Gaara didn't exactly excel at communicating with others.

He shook his head softly and continued to water the plants, moving on to the bright yellow flowers known as Blazing Stars. Sakura watched him silently, her eyes still taking in the garden around her. She was sure all of these plants were specifically desert plants, but that didn't explain the fruit trees. She slowly sat under the shade of an apple tree and touched the bark gently. The tree she sat under was much older than she and Gaara, of that, Sakura was sure.

Turning her gaze back on Gaara, she opened her mouth to speak, but Gaara beat her to the punch, "This garden was my mother's. My father showed it to me shortly after I was born."

"Your mother...She must've had a very green thumb."

Gaara turned to face Sakura, his gaze meeting her's almost painfully. She felt her heart lurch as Gaara gave a small smile, and sighed when he turned his back on her once again. "My mother loved to bring things to life. She was a healer, much like you are, Haruno."

"Oh, please, you can call me Sakura." Sakura stood up and made her way over to Gaara, sitting her hands on her hips with a smile. "Is there anything you need me to help with?"

Gaara shook his head and then slowly, thought better of it. "Yes, actually."

"Ok, shoot."

Gaara turned to Sakura fully, their eyes once again meeting. Sakura blushed in the way he looked at her, as if he knew everything about her in just one gaze. He made a face, like he was thinking of something she could do, and then pointed at a basket a little further away from the tree. "Could you gather some leeks? Temari said she wanted them for dinner."

Sakura burst into laughter, "Of course. I can't believe I forgot that it was Temari's turn to make dinner." Sakura moved towards the basket while watching Gaara, feeling her heart flutter at the smile worming its way across his face.

"You should worry more when it's Kankuro's turn to make dinner."

"Thankfully, I've missed that turn in the kitchen duties a few times. Homesickness, you know." Sakura giggled and began to pull leeks from the ground, marveling on the inside about how strong and fresh the vegetables looked.

"But you're not really homesick, are you? If you would like I could ask the Hokage-"

"Gaara, calm down. I'm not really homesick. It was a joke, you know?" But the truth was she had been homesick. Today, though, in Gaara's garden, she was reminded even more of her hometown of Konoha, with its lush landscape and flourishing wildlife.

Apparently, though, the desert had its own creatures that were perfectly fine where they were. Sakura paused in her work to watch Gaara doing his and couldn't help the smile that covered her face. Today, she was seeing a new side to Gaara; a side of him that she was sure not many had the opportunity to see, if at all.

"Do you come here often?"

"Not as much as I would like."

Sakura nodded and went back to her work, but realized that this time around she was the one being watched. She pulled the leeks diligently, waiting on Gaara to speak.

"One day, I think I want to move the Kazekage house here."

Sakura's hands paused in their movement. She really wasn't expecting him to say that. She smiled at Gaara's tone of voice and realized that he was the one she had been looking for. Here was a broken, sorrowful young man healed by the removal of his demons. Without her even noticing, Gaara had worked his way towards healing and in that instant Sakura made a vow to herself. She would make sure Gaara never ended up like Sasuke. Sakura would make sure that Gaara always knew that someone cared about him as long as she was in his village. And probably after too.

Sakura stood, with the basket looped under her arm and walked over to Gaara with the most understanding, caring smile filling her face. She gingerly, almost slowly, took his hand, and felt a gust of warmth rush over her when he didn't move away.

"I think we should take these back to Temari now, don't you think?" Sakura asked as she led Gaara away from the garden. She held his hand tightly and walked at the most leisurely pace as possible. She definitely didn't want to release his hand.

"I have no doubt that my sister is going crazy looking for me." Gaara replied with a smile, allowing Sakura to lead him away.

The two remained in a comfortable silence, walking along the path back towards the city Gaara ruled over. Before the garden was gone from her vision, Sakura stopped briefly to look back at the pretty sight, one more time, "Gaara, can we come back here another day?"

"You are welcome in my garden whenever you like, Sakura." Gaara smiled warmly as he met Sakura's eyes and she felt her heart flutter in an excited frenzy. There was definitely more to that sentence then she was expecting. She matched his smile almost immediately and together the two of them headed home, forever changed by their brief moments in Gaara's sanctuary.

THE END

A/n: Not bad for my first dance in the Naruto-realm, right? Anyways, the flowers stated in the fic are actually desert flowers, so look 'em up and see the pictures. They're actually very pretty. Thanks for reading and don't forget to hit that big blue button on the bottom and review!


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